FBI: Convicted bank robber at it again

MISSION VALLEY  A convicted bank robber was arrested again Saturday on suspicion of robbing a Mission Valley bank.

Cesar Daniel Flores, 23, of Santee, is accused of using a demand note to rob a San Diego County Credit Union on Fenton Parkway on Aug. 2, the FBI said. The note instructed the teller to remain quiet and “give me all your cash,” according to a complaint filed in San Diego federal court.

It didn’t take long for FBI agents to narrow their investigation to Flores. The FBI showed surveillance photos from the crime to many who know him, including his family and a federal probation officer, said Special Agent Darrell Foxworth. All identified the robber as Flores, and a warrant was put out for his arrest.

On Saturday, an FBI agent working the investigation was shopping while off duty at the Westfield Mission Valley mall when she spotted Flores at a bus stop, Foxworth said.

She requested a San Diego police officer to respond, but when they returned to the bus stop, Flores was gone. He was found in the mall after a quick search and arrested. The officer who helped had also responded to the bank robbery earlier that month, and was familiar with the case.

Flores appeared in court Monday for his initial appearance and remains in federal custody without bail.

He is on parole for the February 2011 robbery of a Bank of the West in La Mesa in which he stole $1,500, court records show. In that incident, he threatened in a demand note to be armed.

Investigators tracked him down once they learned a trolley officer had cited him for an unrelated violation about an hour before the robbery, according to the records.

He was sentenced to 21 months in prison and three years parole.

Flores is a possible suspect in at least one other bank robbery in Southern California, the FBI said.